Stoking the Embers by Laura Greenwood

Author:Laura Greenwood [Greenwood, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Drowlgon Press

Chapter Ten

I thrust Moonslinger forward and do my best to control the stream of the Arts through me and out of the end, just like Cobalt has been teaching me over the past few days. Much to my surprise, he's actually helped a lot when it comes to working on the Arts. I always knew I was missing the knowledge I needed to truly make the Arts my own, but there wasn't any chance of me ever finding the information out in the city.

It's funny how the Dragon Duels are actually teaching me useful skills.

"That's much better," Cobalt says from his spot by the fire.

"Thanks."

"Dinner's ready by the way."

"And by dinner, you mean roast pheasant again?" I check.

He chuckles. "What else? There isn't much roaming around that I can trap with what I've got. Now, if I had a bow and arrow, it'd be a whole other story."

"Why don't you?"

He picks up his poking stick and prods it into the fire. "Why don't I what?"

"Have a bow and arrow? You could have picked it as your item."

He shrugs. "A knife is more useful."

"Then you must think I'm extra ridiculous for picking something I don't even know how to use," I mutter as I sit down next to him.

"Actually, I don't. It may seem like an out-there choice, but sometimes, the Arts have a mind of their own. I imagine it was a choice you had to make in some respects."

I'm amazed by how accurately he's describing how the choice felt to me.

"Something like that," I admit.

"Exactly." He hands me a leaf topped with steaming pheasant.

The two of us eat in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. I think I've eaten better in the past couple of days than I have in the entire year prior to that. I thought Cobalt would be useless at surviving thanks to his White Tower upbringing, but I'm wrong. He's probably even more prepared than I am in a lot of ways.

Something brushes up against the bits of old metal we hung up in the trees in a radius around ourselves as an early warning system, making both of us freeze.

We listen again for any hint of what might be coming towards us. If it's just an animal, we shouldn't hear the metal pieces clanking against one another again. But if it's a person...

Clink-clink-clink.

We're both on our feet in seconds, Moonslinger in my hands, and Cobalt's knife in his.

"Do you think it was the Arts that made them come?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "The people who know what it means will stay away because they don't want to be caught up in that much power. I doubt anyone from the city will come to find out what's going on if they don't understand it. They might even think it's a dragon."

I nod, not completely convinced, but his logic does make sense.

"Should we..." I'm about to suggest we go and check out what's coming when a lone figure stumbles into the clearing.

The person keels over almost immediately.

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